Those who follow airfare deals...

Have you called SW to see if they have any group rates that may help you save money? I cannot remember which airline it was, but an aunt just took all her kids and grandkids and they got s group rate through one of the airlines.

Thanks for that tip. I will definitely have to call and see if this is possible.
 
so with everything going on with southwest, would you still consider them? I'm worried about cancelled flights. Prices for jet blue still sky high. still holding off at 166 days until takeoff.
 
so with everything going on with southwest, would you still consider them? I'm worried about cancelled flights. Prices for jet blue still sky high. still holding off at 166 days until takeoff.

We chose not to fly southwest (prior to the air max issues). We want to know our seats in advance and the Times didn’t work out for us. I would not book southwest now with the issues - too much up in the air (no pun intended) with flight schedules due to a depleted fleet and with my nerves, I wouldn’t want to be on an air max if it was just reintroduced. We stalked jet blue and ended up getting decent prices 5 months out. It was cheaper for us to fly late afternoon of the day before we wanted to, and booked a value resort for the night. The morning flights just aren’t coming down.
 
Also, we are flying out of jfk and into LaGuardia (jet blue) - cheaper prices and better schedules for us that way
 


We travel quite a bit and I usually find that prices drop about 4 months out and then again 6-8 weeks prior to the flight. Last year we were able to get a reasonable price going down about 4 months out, but prices coming back were still high. I waited it out and ended up getting our flights back at about 8 weeks before the flight.
 
so with everything going on with southwest, would you still consider them? I'm worried about cancelled flights. Prices for jet blue still sky high. still holding off at 166 days until takeoff.

We fly Southwest as much as we can. We were going to San Diego the weekend following grounding the MAX. Our return flight was canceled, but they worked with us to get on whatever return flight we wanted at no difference in cost. I felt they handled it very well. We ended up having to cancel all of those flights due to my brother's unexpected passing, and when I called to cancel, they refunded everything, no questions asked. I had a separate flight booked on American for my Mom, and when I canceled that, they told me they could refund me as soon as I could produce a death certificate. I understand that policy, but after talking with SW and the lady just saying, "Don't you worry, we'll take care of this right now," it was a rude change. I don't blame the agent at all - she was kind, and I know people try to scam the system all the time, so they have the policy for a reason. But I SO appreciated SW's service and not having something else hanging over my head to go back and take care of.

As far as moving forward, I feel like SW has probably got a decent handle on the schedule changes by now. I flew SW this past week and it was service as usual - on-time departures, early arrivals, friendly staff, and an overall great experience. We plan to continue flying SW, and have flights booked for my brother's wedding and our Disney trip in September.

That being said, we recently had to fly Delta for two trips within a week and a half in order to travel for my brother's funeral. It was not terrible, but we did not experience the excellent customer service we are accustomed to with SW. Because I didn't want to pay $75+ extra for each of my family members to select our own seats, they put us all over the airplane. My 7 year-old daughter was seated between strangers, nowhere near DH or me, on any of our 4 flights. When I called to see if it could be changed, I was told "It's a short flight... surely she'll be fine" and "You can just ask someone else to trade seats." Same with my 11 year-old, though I wasn't quite as concerned about him sitting alone. Still... sorry, but no. When you assign seats to families, you are fully aware of what that entails. When we arrived at the gates for our flights, the gate agents were able to at least put one child with each adult, but it was like an act of Congress. My first trip, I took a larger suitcase and paid to check it. Our second trip, we all packed in carry-ons because we didn't want to pay the baggage fees. They still ended up gate-checking everything to our final destination at no cost. I felt like I was ripped off because they did for free what I'd just paid $30 each way for my previous trip. Even my kids noticed a difference, though we tried really hard not to talk bad about the airline in front of them. Getting back on SW this past week was a welcome relief - for all of us.
 
We fly Southwest as much as we can. We were going to San Diego the weekend following grounding the MAX. Our return flight was canceled, but they worked with us to get on whatever return flight we wanted at no difference in cost. I felt they handled it very well. We ended up having to cancel all of those flights due to my brother's unexpected passing, and when I called to cancel, they refunded everything, no questions asked. I had a separate flight booked on American for my Mom, and when I canceled that, they told me they could refund me as soon as I could produce a death certificate. I understand that policy, but after talking with SW and the lady just saying, "Don't you worry, we'll take care of this right now," it was a rude change. I don't blame the agent at all - she was kind, and I know people try to scam the system all the time, so they have the policy for a reason. But I SO appreciated SW's service and not having something else hanging over my head to go back and take care of.

As far as moving forward, I feel like SW has probably got a decent handle on the schedule changes by now. I flew SW this past week and it was service as usual - on-time departures, early arrivals, friendly staff, and an overall great experience. We plan to continue flying SW, and have flights booked for my brother's wedding and our Disney trip in September.

That being said, we recently had to fly Delta for two trips within a week and a half in order to travel for my brother's funeral. It was not terrible, but we did not experience the excellent customer service we are accustomed to with SW. Because I didn't want to pay $75+ extra for each of my family members to select our own seats, they put us all over the airplane. My 7 year-old daughter was seated between strangers, nowhere near DH or me, on any of our 4 flights. When I called to see if it could be changed, I was told "It's a short flight... surely she'll be fine" and "You can just ask someone else to trade seats." Same with my 11 year-old, though I wasn't quite as concerned about him sitting alone. Still... sorry, but no. When you assign seats to families, you are fully aware of what that entails. When we arrived at the gates for our flights, the gate agents were able to at least put one child with each adult, but it was like an act of Congress. My first trip, I took a larger suitcase and paid to check it. Our second trip, we all packed in carry-ons because we didn't want to pay the baggage fees. They still ended up gate-checking everything to our final destination at no cost. I felt like I was ripped off because they did for free what I'd just paid $30 each way for my previous trip. Even my kids noticed a difference, though we tried really hard not to talk bad about the airline in front of them. Getting back on SW this past week was a welcome relief - for all of us.
Sorry to hear about your brother. Yea, I’m not comfortable not sitting with my children. That whole system doesn’t make sense. Just let people pick what’s available when booking. What can be the advantage of first come first serve? We only fly jet blue so I’m just not familiar with all the rest but it’s good to know you like Southwest. I’m just not comfortable flying frontier or spirit even though they are so cheap!
 


Sorry to hear about your brother. Yea, I’m not comfortable not sitting with my children. That whole system doesn’t make sense. Just let people pick what’s available when booking. What can be the advantage of first come first serve? We only fly jet blue so I’m just not familiar with all the rest but it’s good to know you like Southwest. I’m just not comfortable flying frontier or spirit even though they are so cheap!

Thanks.

I think Delta wants to be able to charge a premium for seat selection. They also charge a premium for sitting just behind 1st Class, in their "Comfort Plus" section. Seats are the same as the rest of the economy section, you're just closer to the front. I do prefer Southwest for many reasons, but I once I adjusted to their seating policy, I actually like it better. I am considering a flight on Allegiant this summer returning from my brother's wedding, and I am choking at the thought of paying extra for a carry-on bag. The upcharges some of these airlines astounds me.
 
I recently read somewhere that the calculated best day to purchase airfare is exactly 76 days before your outbound flight.

BDL is a horrid, horrid airport for getting anywhere (I live in CT and use that airport weekly). Almost nothing is direct and many of the "bigger" airlines fly the smaller planes out of BDL. If you fly American, the ONLY connecting airport you should be willing to sort of tolerate is CLT. If Delta, try and connect through ATL (it's genuinely not a hard airport to navigate even though it's pretty big - I routinely make connections of an hour or less (which means 20 minutes from parking at the inbound gate until boarding of next flight starts).

As much as I abhor Southwest, I prefer them over JetBlue because the return flights from MCO w/ JetBlue always seem to be on the oldest, crappiest plane in their fleet. Most airlines will hamper you if you try and do a "miles plus cash" sort of thing and I don't know that it would actually work on any airline (unless you straight out bought miles).

If you have very good credit, you could look into one of the CC's that the airlines offer where you charge something in the first few months and you get a lot of bonus miles as a reward. I just booked two round trip tickets about two weeks ago for a trip in the middle of May using Delta miles - I had to pay some fees ($25) on top of the 76,000 miles I used.
 
Thanks.

I think Delta wants to be able to charge a premium for seat selection. They also charge a premium for sitting just behind 1st Class, in their "Comfort Plus" section. Seats are the same as the rest of the economy section, you're just closer to the front. I do prefer Southwest for many reasons, but I once I adjusted to their seating policy, I actually like it better. I am considering a flight on Allegiant this summer returning from my brother's wedding, and I am choking at the thought of paying extra for a carry-on bag. The upcharges some of these airlines astounds me.

We get Comfort Plus all the time. Seats are slightly larger, but you do have more leg room. DH is 6'4" and either Comfort Plus or the exit row are a must for him. Comfort plus also gives you free drinks if that's important to you (not to us). One of the reasons we don't fly much on Southwest is because it's just too uncomfortable for DH unless its a short flight.
 
Not sure if people knew that Frontier is now flying out of Bradley, and I think it has caused Southwest and Jetblue to keep their prices down. The Frontier Flight are very limited though.
 
We get Comfort Plus all the time. Seats are slightly larger, but you do have more leg room. DH is 6'4" and either Comfort Plus or the exit row are a must for him. Comfort plus also gives you free drinks if that's important to you (not to us). One of the reasons we don't fly much on Southwest is because it's just too uncomfortable for DH unless its a short flight.

We got free drinks on our flights with Delta, even without Comfort Plus.

With Southwest, if you have certain measurements, you can check in at the desk and tell them you want to register as a "person of extra size" (it's called something like that). It depends on your measurements - we have a friend who is 6'6" and works out a lot, so he's huge. They will reserve a second seat beside him so he has extra room, and they don't charge extra for it. You even get to pre-board, and your traveling party gets to board with you. You can't choose an exit row when you do that, but it's better than the alternative.
 
There's "free drinks" and there are free drinks. Soda, water, and juice are always available on Delta while beer, wine, and spirits are pay-for items except in first class (usually - Delta does do this a little differently).

I wouldn't put any stock right now in Southwest giving you a second seat at no charge. The volume of canceled flights bundled with their decrease in revenue as a result (Max 8 plane-related) means that you have to expect every single flight is full. Period.
 
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Not sure if people knew that Frontier is now flying out of Bradley, and I think it has caused Southwest and Jetblue to keep their prices down. The Frontier Flight are very limited though.

Typically, something like this would only apply to similar origin/destination combinations on other airlines. A cheap fare from Frontier to fly to Denver won't cause Southwest to keep their fare down to Baltimore (or Orlando). Competition keeps prices down, but competition only really exists when the variables are the same (like destinations).
 
We get Comfort Plus all the time. Seats are slightly larger, but you do have more leg room. DH is 6'4" and either Comfort Plus or the exit row are a must for him. Comfort plus also gives you free drinks if that's important to you (not to us). One of the reasons we don't fly much on Southwest is because it's just too uncomfortable for DH unless its a short flight.

Comfort+ has nothing to do with free soft drinks. They do get free beer and wine as well as better snack options (sometimes).

Go here: https://www.delta.com/content/www/en_US/traveling-with-us/onboard-experience/delta-comfort-plus.html

Scroll to the bottom and click where it says "Compare Experiences" to see the full comparison chart.
 
Typically, something like this would only apply to similar origin/destination combinations on other airlines. A cheap fare from Frontier to fly to Denver won't cause Southwest to keep their fare down to Baltimore (or Orlando). Competition keeps prices down, but competition only really exists when the variables are the same (like destinations).

True, I was mostly speaking about flights into MCO from BDL, but Frontier's flights are only on certain days and only once a day, but from my limited observations for April flights this year it did seem to drive prices down.
 
There's "free drinks" and there are free drinks. Soda, water, and juice are always available on Delta while beer, wine, and spirits are pay-for items except in first class (usually - Delta does do this a little differently).

I wouldn't put any stock right now in Southwest giving you a second seat at no charge. The volume of canceled flights bundled with their decrease in revenue as a result (Max 8 plane-related) means that you have to expect every single flight is full. Period.

Every SW flight I've ever been on has been full. And I doubt they would change their policies just because of their plane inventory. The "extra size" thing is not something they advertise, and likely relatively few people know about it. We have had SW ask for volunteers to take a later flight, and I'm guessing it has something to do with this, but have never seen anyone forced to, just have seen standby not able to get on.
 
Every SW flight I've ever been on has been full. And I doubt they would change their policies just because of their plane inventory. The "extra size" thing is not something they advertise, and likely relatively few people know about it. We have had SW ask for volunteers to take a later flight, and I'm guessing it has something to do with this, but have never seen anyone forced to, just have seen standby not able to get on.

If the flight is 100% full at the time one of these requests is made, they aren't going to honor it. Why? Because it would require SW offering a customer willing to take a later flight "something" in return. In other words, they aren't going to comp another passenger to give a second seat space to someone for nothing. That's a direct loss and it isn't going to happen. In other words, that would be negative revenue for them.

With Standby, there's no guarantee of getting on. So, if they have the extra seat inventory, they could more easily justify offering it to satisfy the request.
 
What the poster above has described is true. The policy is called "Customer of Size." You can check this on their website.

But another way it also works is for the large customer to purchase two seats at the time you are reserving (following the instructions given for this on their website). Once you have returned from your travel, and 10 days have gone by, you call Customer Service and ask for a refund on the extra seat, giving your flight numbers, dates of travel, etc. They credit your account within two weeks. I have personally done this each year for the last three years. This summer I will be doing it for three trips. And yes, you pre-board with the folks who have disabilities, and your travel companion goes on early with you. They give you a little placard to place on the empty seat that says,"This seat has been paid for" so people do not ask if they can sit there as they are going down the aisle looking for seats.
 
When booking airfare or hotels, I use private browsing

this is cut and pasted from another site in better words
Always Clear your browser’s cookies before booking flights online or simple use your browser’s incognito mode. Many airlines and travel web sites (such as Expedia, Kayak, etc.) track how many times you’ve visited their websites. In so doing, they provide different offers and deals depending on the user.

To make sure you’re getting the best prices when you book air travel online, be sure to clear your web browser’s cookies and cache. This will make it appear as if it’s your first time visiting these sites, and you’re likely to see much better prices for your next flight!

Also, they realize Mac users are suckers, so they steer them to higher priced options
Orbitz has found that Apple users spend as much as 30% more a night on hotels, so the online travel site is starting to show them different, and sometimes costlier, options than Windows visitors see.
 

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